As briefly mentioned in various posts on this blog, I’ll be heading to Japan for a vacation/class. The current count is 9 days until takeoff. I’ve got all the omiyage that I’m going to take with me. I’ve got plenty of clothes1. I’ve got my luggage. I’ve started planning how I’ll be packing for the trip and what all I want to take with me besides clothes (e.g. camera, sketchpad, sanity). I am getting very excited about this trip, but it still feels somewhat unreal to me.

In part because I still don’t believe I’ve got enough money to do this2 and in part because I’ve not been on an airplane since I was two. I don’t remember that flight but my Mom tells me that I handled it fairly well. The flight is one part of the trip that I’m not all that happy about as it’s fourteen hours in coach and while my legs do fold up; I’m pretty sure it’s going to be miserable for me. Of course, the worse part of the flight for me is that I’ve enjoyed watching too many disaster movies where planes have exploded, crashed, been ripped to shreds or something equally nasty happened to the passengers. It didn’t really help that I caught the episode of Mythbusters3 where they “fire a bullet into the shell of an aircraft to find out if a single shot can cause explosive decompression — and total aircraft destruction.”4 Eep!
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While browsing the WP support forums, I ran across this little annoucement:

I would like to announce the grand opening of AustenBlog, a compendium of news about Jane Austen in popular culture. This weblog probably will only be interesting to those who like Jane Austen, of course, but I’d like to announce it here and publicly thank some folks who were helpful to me while I was putting it together

I normally wouldn’t make a post on my blog for somebody annoucing their new site, but the design is pretty good and based on Root’s Gemini template for WP (which means I should seriously look at that template for help with designing CoffeeBear’s look). Also, a good friend of mine (AWelkin) is a fan of Pride & Prejudice and I figure she’ll eventually see the link & might want to check it out.

One of my co-workers sent me this list of campaign slogans that Bush/Cheney could use. I found it amusing, so here it is:

  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Four More Wars!
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Apocalypse Now!
  • BU__ SH__!
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Because the truth just isn’t good enough.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Compassionate Colonialism.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Leave no billionaire behind.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Over a billion Whoppers served.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Putting the “con” in conservatism.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Thanks for not paying attention.
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: This time, elect us!
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: We’re Gooder!
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: Asses of Evil
  • Don’t think. Vote Bush!
  • George W. Bush: A brain wave away from the presidency
  • George W. Bush: It takes a village idiot.
  • Vote Bush in ’04: “I Has Incumbentory Advantitude”
  • Vote Bush in ’04: Because dictatorship is easier.
  • Vote Bush in ’04: It’s a no-brainer!
  • Vote for Bush & You Get Dick!
  • Who would Jesus Bomb?
  • Bush/Cheney ’04: “Leave no child a dime!”